Blog 6: Foucault

Foucault's idea is that the subject has been constructed by power in our society. We become subjects as we are subjected to the discourses, which occur through interpellation. The subject is not natural, it has no structure. He strongly opposes Rousseau’s theory that the subject is a free and autonomous individual and the Enlightenment model. Although he sides with Lacan in the sense that subjects are created through relationships and experiences, he believes that they are the relationships of power.

Foucault uses the term Power/Knowledge because power and knowledge always exist together. Subjectivity exists within power/knowledge. We are subjects of the discourse of power/knowledge. Power categorizes individuals that are always being examined. Foucault believes that the panopticism principle of power in jails is the same model of power among all subjects in modern society. Power comes first, and then the individual.